Children film festival and impact of the presidential election in Iran

TEHRAN, IRAN – 16 Jun, 2017 – Int’l Film Festival For Children Announces Features Lineup, Filmmakers from across the world gather in Isfahan to compete for Golden Butterfly at the 30th Int’l Film Festival for Children and Youth.

What makes this festival doubly important is the shadow of presidential election and its impact on cultural and political orientation of government and the introduction of UNESCO document 2030 and the challenges and controversies discussed in this document in Iran. This festival is the first art event after recent elections and therefore may represent a form of cultural positions of the relevant authorities.

Cinema of children gradually and is becoming the targeted key factor in shaping the culture and behavior of children and their parents who are typically forced to accompany their children. The Festival means to encourage filmmakers to understand children’s delicate world and to engage children in the professional world of cinema. The main focus of the festival is to encourage children and their parents to attend such an international venue.

The Festival has founded a fan club to inform children and parents about the details of the event to encourage children to attend artistic events of this sort. As of now, about 15,000 children have signed up to the club. The festival will be hosting one of the major animation competitions in the Middle East. The international event is held in seven categories. The International Cinema Competition in held in three sections. The second category being films and animations sections hold competition between various length films and animations. The third category is the competition of International Centre of Film for Children and Young People (CIFEJ) will be judged by an international jury.

Isfahan is to host the International Film Festival for Children and Youth from June 30 to July 06. The touristic and artistic city of Isfahan will host the festival for four coming years until 2021. Numerous historical sites and museums are located in Isfahan. The Persian-Islamic architecture is globally recognized and is perfected in Isfahan. Being a strategic axis on the way of Silk Road, it inherited is heritage of ancient art, commerce and industries from thousands of years of international traffic. Isfahan is home to people of different religions such as Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrian. That is how Isfahanees are famous for being a symbol of coexistence and tolerance. Having said all of that, it makes sense why Persians have a proverb to describe Isfahan reading: “Esfahan nesf-e-jahan” translating: Isfahan is half of the world.